Preached Sunday, July 1, 2012 from John 4:43-54
Theme: A mature faith in Jesus is one that believes—not just in His power, or just in His promise—but upon His very Person.
(Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture references are taken from The Holy Bible, New King James Version; copyright 1982, Thomas Nelson, Inc.)
In preparing our hearts this morning to come to the Lord’s table, I ask that you turn in your Bibles with me to the fourth chapter of the Gospel of John. The Holy Spirit has provided a remarkable story for us at the end of that chapter about a nobleman who met the Lord Jesus.
In John 4:46-54, it says;
So Jesus came again to Cana of Galilee where He had made the water wine. And there was a certain nobleman whose son was sick at Capernaum. When he heard that Jesus had come out of Judea into Galilee, he went to Him and implored Him to come down and heal his son, for he was at the point of death. Then Jesus said to him, “Unless you people see signs and wonders, you will by no means believe.” The nobleman said to Him, “Sir, come down before my child dies!” Jesus said to him, “Go your way; your son lives.” So the man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him, and he went his way. And as he was now going down, his servants met him and told him, saying, “Your son lives!” Then he inquired of them the hour when he got better. And they said to him, “Yesterday at the seventh hour the fever left him.” So the father knew that it was at the same hour in which Jesus said to him, “Your son lives.” And he himself believed, and his whole household. This again is the second sign Jesus did when He had come out of Judea into Galilee (John 4:46-54).
This is a wonderful story. It’s about a man who had faith in the power of Jesus to heal his sick son; and whose son was healed as a result of his faith. But at the same time, it’s a strange story. Doesn’t it seem as if the Lord Jesus spoke harshly to this man, and challenged his faith? It certainly seems as if it was an insensitive thing for the Lord to say to someone who had faith enough to come to Him for help.
And yet, as strange a thing as it may have seemed for the Lord to say to this nobleman, I believe the Holy Spirit gave us the story of His words to the man for a reason. It was to teach teach us some very important lessons we need to know about the kind of relationship the Lord Jesus wishes to have with those who trust Him.
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Let me share a personal story. I’m somewhat hesitant to share it; because it seems a bit self-serving to tell it. But I hope you’ll allow me to do so; because think it helps illustrate the lesson of this story.
Several years ago—early in my ministry—I was getting ready to take a trip up north with my family for a holiday get-together. I was a seminary student at the time; and I was only serving the church part-time. And so, we didn’t have much money. We sought to be faithful to tithe on what God has given us; but I found that—after paying our bills and writing the check for our tithe-we would have only about three dollars left. That’s three dollars for a trip up north to spend holiday with our family.
Have you ever had to write a tithe check with a trembling hand? That’s how I began to write. But then, I thought back on the promise of Jesus: “Give, and it will be given to you: good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be put into your bosom. For with the same measure that you use, it will be measured back to you” (Luke 6:38). And I thought to myself; “Well; there’s a promise from Jesus that I can trust”; and so, I began to write the check.
But after I signed it, I felt the gentle rebuke of the Spirit of the Lord. I felt as if He were saying, “I’m not pleased with your attitude in how you have just written this tithe check. You’re not really trusting Me in it. You’re trusting My promise; as well you should. But you’re not really trusting Me personally. Your trusting My promise as if it could be trusted apart from Me; and as if I’m a ‘vending machine’ that you just put in your coin into and get the expected results. I don’t want that kind of faith from you. I want you to trust in My promises because you love Me and have your trust, first and foremost, upon Me.”
I really felt grieved about that. It was true! I wasn’t really trusting Jesus in a personal way. It was a subtle failure on my part; but I was trusting in His promise as if the promise could be had apart from Him. In fact, I hadn’t really even spoken to Him about my need as I thought about the promise and wrote the check. I asked His forgiveness for not really having my trust in Him as I should. I prayed with a new sense of love and trust in Him, thanked Him for what we had, and asked that He would bless our tithe and provide for our needs as He saw best. My hand wasn’t trembling as I wrote the check either. I felt a sense of relief.
And then, after all this, I went out to the mail-box. I had forgotten to check for the mail that day; and thought I’d better get the mail before we left. And wouldn’t you know it? There—the whole time long; without my even knowing about it—was a very large check that someone had sent to us that abundantly provided for our trip. Isn’t that just like our Lord? I learned a great deal about His faithfulness that day. And I also learned an important lesson in it all about my walk with Him. Jesus doesn’t want our faith in Him to be mechanical and abstract. He wants it to be personal, and in the context of loving fellowship with Him. He wants us to not simply love His promises or His power; but to truly love Him in a personal, experiential, continually dependant way.
That’s what I believe this morning’s story is meant to illustrate to us.
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Now; to appreciate this story fully, you need to know a little geography. I hope you won’t let the threat of a little ‘geography lesson’ turn you off this morning. Actually, geography figures very large in the fourth chapter of John—and in a way that is really fascinating. In that chapter, we read of our Lord’s travels up north into the regions of Galilee; and it’s a passage in which spirituality and geography are pictured together.
It began in John 4:1-3 with Jesus departing from Judea. Judea was where He was first declared to the world by John. Judea was the region in which its people were very proud of their spiritual heritage. Jerusalem was its chief city. It was the home of the temple of God. But we’re told that Jesus—the Son of God who should have been welcomed in Judea as the Messiah—specifically left it because He knew that the Pharisees heard that He made and baptized more disciples than John. He was not welcomed by them. It was as we’re told in John 1:11; that “He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him.” He was not believed on by those who should have been the very first to receive Him; and so He went elsewhere.
Moving on north, in verses 4-42, we read the story of His visit to Samaria. The Samaritans were a people that the Jewish people despised. A little over seven centuries before that time, that region became occupied by a mixed people—half Jewish and half Gentile. And so, the beliefs of the Samaritans were mingled with paganism. And yet, the same Jesus who was not believed on in Judea was warmly welcomed and believed on among these despised Samaritans. We all love the wonderful story of the woman that He spoke to at the well. She told her people all about Him. And even though He did no miracles among them that we know of, they nevertheless came and heard Him for themselves; and said to her, “Now we believe, not because of what you said, for we ourselves have heard Him and we know that this is indeed the Christ, the Savior of the world” (v. 42).
And now, in the passage before us, the Lord Jesus had traveled further north to Galilee. While the Judeans were a people proud of their religious devotion to God, and while the Samaritans were a mixed people—partly Jewish and partly pagan, the Galileans were considered common sinners who lived on the edge of the heathen world. And yet, it was Galilee that the Lord Jesus chose as the center of His three-and-a-half-year earthly ministry—and Capernaum, a city of Galilee, as His home. Of all people, the Galileans were the most privileged of all in terms of Jesus’ earthly ministry. It was just as the prophet Isaiah wrote centuries before
Nevertheless the gloom will not be upon her who is distressed, as when at first He lightly esteemed the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, and afterward more heavily oppressed her, by the way of the sea, beyond the Jordan, in Galilee of the Gentiles. The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt in the land of the shadow of death, upon them a light has shined (Isaiah 9:1-2).
So; in our passage this morning, we find the story of a great work that Jesus did for someone in—of all places—Galilee. It was to a nobleman (literally “a royal”)—and this means that this nobleman was mostly likely somehow associated with Herod Antipas, the tetrarch of Galilee.
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Now; just as our Lord’s travels up north involved a progression, there was also a progression in this man’s faith. It began with a belief in Jesus power; then it involved a trust in Jesus’ word; and it finally matured into a faith in Jesus’ Person.
Let’s consider how his faith grew. In 4:40, we’re told that, when the Samaritans came to Jesus and urged Him to stay with them, “He stayed two days”. What a thrilling ‘two days’ those must have been; and how these ‘despised’ Samaritans must have felt loved by Him! And so, when we come to verse 43, we read; “Now after the two days He departed from there and went to Galilee.”
It’s important to notice that Jesus didn’t go back to the regions of Judea at this time; nor did He abide in His hometown of Nazareth. The people of Nazareth, you’ll remember, had rejected Him. When He preached in His hometown, they asked, “Where did this Man get these things? And what wisdom is this which is given to Him, that such mighty works are performed by His hands! Is this not the carpenter, the Son of Mary, and brother of James, Joses, Judas, and Simon? And are not His sisters here with us?” So they were offended at Him: (Mark 6:2-3). In fact, the people of His hometown even sought to throw Him off a cliff (Luke 4:28-30). It was in Nazareth that Jesus first said what John reports that He said in verse 44; “For Jesus Himself testified that a prophet has no honor in his own country.”
But He did receive honor among the despised Galileans. They remembered the miracle that He had performed in nearby Cana—where he turned the water into wine (John 2:1-12); and some of them had even been present in Jerusalem at the feast; when He had driven-out the money changers and merchandisers from His Father’s temple (2:13-22). Perhaps there are more miracles that He did in their midst—because, as John tells us later, there were many signs He did “which are not writtenhttps://redding.mercy.org/Patients_And_Visitors/Mercy_Guilds_Online_Gift_Shop/index.htm in this book” (John 20:30). In any case, John tells us in verse 45; “So when He came to Galilee, the Galileans received Him, having seen all the things He did in Jerusalem at the feast; for they also had gone to the feast.”
And it’s then that we’re introduced to this nobleman. We’re told, “So Jesus came again to Cana of Galilee where He had made the water wine. And there was a certain nobleman whose son was sick at Capernaum” (vv. 45-46). His son had a fever; and his situation was grave. He, no doubt, could have afforded the best physicians in the region for his son. But they, apparently, could do nothing to save him.
Now; it may be that this man had gone to Cana—twenty-five miles southwest of Capernaum—on official business of some kind; and while there, word had reached him of the dire situation of his son. Or it may be that he already knew about the condition of his son; and had traveled the long twenty-five miles distance to reach Jesus. But however it may have happened, John tells us, “When he heard that Jesus had come out of Judea into Galilee, he went to Him and implored Him to come down and heal his son, for he was at the point of death” (v. 47).
Here, then is where we see a wonderful testimony of this man’s faith in Jesus. We see his faith at its first stage in that . . .
1. IT BEGAN AS A FAITH IN JESUS’ POWER.
He knew enough about Jesus—having heard the stories of the miracles He had done, and of His bold testimony in the temple—to know that Jesus could make his son live. And that’s the beginning point of a faith in Jesus that many have—a faith in His power. They have a need; and they come to Him for the meeting of that need. He was like the leper who came to Jesus and said, “Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean” (Matthew 8:2). Nothing is impossible for Jesus if He is willing.
May we exhibit this kind of faith in Him more often than we do!
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But this is where the story begins to get surprising. This man’s faith was most certainly in the power of Jesus. He had faith that Jesus was able to bring his son back from the point of death. But it was not yet a mature faith. It was a faith that was imperfect in that it needed to “see” Jesus in action.
That’s when we read that Jesus said something that seems—on the surface—to have been harsh: “Then Jesus said to him, ‘Unless you people see signs and wonders, you will by no means believe’” (v. 48). Perhaps this was in keeping with what the apostle Paul once wrote, “For the Jews request a sign . . .” (1 Corinthians 1:22).
But as harsh as these words may have seemed, I suggest to you that they—in reality—constituted a test of the man’s faith. Jesus’ seemingly-harsh words were intended to pull out from the man the kind of faith that Jesus truly wanted to see; and that would move Him to take action for Him. I believe it was like the story of the Syro-Phoenician woman who kept coming to Jesus and demanding that a demon be cast out of her daughter. Jesus—who came to the Jewish people—also seemed cruel to this poor Gentile woman in saying, “Let the children be filled first, for it is not good to take the children’s bread and throw it to the little dogs” (Mark 7:27). But in reality, He was testing this Gentile woman—pulling out from her the kind of expression of faith that He wanted to hear from her. And when she answered, “Yes, Lord, yet even the little dogs under the table eat from the children’s crumbs” (v. 28); that’s when He praised her and gladly responded to her faith. It makes me wonder how often it might be that the Lord Jesus only ‘seems’ to be ignoring our requests—waiting to see if we will display the level of faith in Him that He truly wants to see from us?
I suggest that the same thing is happening here. The nobleman wanted Jesus to come and perform the miracle for his son—believing in Jesus’ power, but not yet believing in the full authority of His word. He was asking Jesus to come to his son and perform a miracle that he could see—with Jesus right there performing it. But Jesus seemed unwilling to gratify the man’s desire. He seemed to rebuke the man’s request—as if to say to him, “You have a deficiency in your faith! You come to me for the life of your son; but you won’t believe unless I go to his bedside, and you actually see Me do it!” I believe He was wanting to see a more mature faith from the man than that.
This desperate nobleman was—it seems—in no mood to argue the particularities of faith. He was respectful, but resolute. “The nobleman said to Him, ‘Sir, come down before my child dies!’ Jesus said to him, ‘Go your way; your son lives'” (v. 49-50a). And do you notice that the man passed this next test? He acted in faith in what Jesus said to him. Jesus said to him, “Your son lives”; and we know that his man had moved to a new level of maturity in his faith in Jesus because—after hearing the promise of Jesus that His son lived—he obeyed Jesus’ command to “Go your way . . .” We’re told, “So the man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him, and he went his way” (v. 50b). In other words, he put faith to work in his feet.
And this is where we see a new level of maturity in the man’s faith; in that . . .
2. IT EXPRESSED ITSELF AS A FAITH IN JESUS’ PROMISE.
He believed enough in Jesus’ word to cease demanding that Jesus’ actually come and perform the miracle before his eyes. And in this, the nobleman was like another great man of faith—another Gentile.
A Roman centurion once sent to the Lord and asked for the healing of his servant; but when Jesus sought to make his way to the man’s home, this military leader sent word and said,
“‘Lord, do not trouble Yourself, for I am not worthy that You should enter under my roof. Therefore I did not even think myself worthy to come to You. But say the word, and my servant will be healed. For I also am a man placed under authority, having soldiers under me. And I say to one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and to another, ‘Come,’ and he comes; and to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.'” When Jesus heard these things, He marveled at him, and turned around and said to the crowd that followed Him, “I say to you, I have not found such great faith, not even in Israel!” (Luke 7:6-9).
That centurion trusted in the Son of God—who possesses all authority—to simply speak the word; knowing that the servant would then be healed. And he was! And now, in the story before us, the Lord was drawing that same sort of faith in His word out of this Galilean nobleman. Jesus was making him trust that He had the power to give life to his son from a distance of twenty-fives miles away—a full day’s journey—by simply speaking the words, “Go your way; your son lives.”
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ; has our own personal faith in Jesus matured to that level yet? We may come to Jesus with our needs—trusting in His power to do for us what is needed. And it’s right that we do so; because He truly does have all power. But He also speaks as one who has all authority. Do we, then, need to actually see Him act before we will believe on the authority of His promises? Do we have what we might call a ‘Thomas-level’ faith?—one that demands to be able to ‘see’ and ‘touch’ for ourselves before we will believe what He says? Would Jesus say to us what He also said to Thomas—”Thomas, because you have seen Me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed” (John 20:29)?
So then; this nobleman showed that his faith truly was maturing. When Jesus simply spoke the promise that his son lived, he trusted His words and went his way.
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Now; it could be that the nobleman even felt free at that time to carry on with some important piece of business; or it may be that he immediately made his way along the twenty-five mile journey to his home. But in any event, it would have taken some time to make the journey; and perhaps—because he is human like us—we could speculate that he struggled with some doubts along the way.
But John tells us, “And as he was now going down, his servants met him and told him, saying, ‘Your son lives!’ Then he inquired of them the hour when he got better. And they said to him, ‘Yesterday at the seventh hour the fever left him.'” (vv. 51-52). The seventh hour may be according to the Jewish reckoning—which would have meant that the Lord declared his son’s life at 1 pm.; and so it would have been later in the evening (which, to the Jewish mind, would have been the next day) that he heard the news from his servants. Or it may be according to the Gentile reckoning—which would have meant that the Lord declared his son’s life at 7 pm; and it would have been upon his arrival the next day that he heard the report from his servants. But in either case, we’re told, “So the father knew that it was at the same hour in which Jesus said to him, ‘Your son lives'” (v. 53a). The man was brought from a faith in Jesus’ power to a faith in His promise—and the Lord’s promise proved reliable.
And I ask you to note very carefully what we’re told next. “And he himself believed, and his whole household” (v. 53b). What a surprising statement! He clearly had already believed in Jesus’ power; otherwise he would not have come to Him in the first place. And he clearly had already believed in Jesus’ promise; otherwise he would not have left when Jesus simply declared, “Your son lives”. So what this statement “he himself believed” means is that the man went beyond a mere faith in Jesus’ power and in His promise; and . . .
3. IT CONFIRMED ITSELF AS A FAITH IN JESUS’ PERSON.
In fact, it’s remarkable that the word that the apostle John uses in the original language is one that tells us that the man believed “upon” Jesus. He had believed in Jesus’ power to heal his son; which is why he came to Him in the first place. And he believed in the authority of Jesus’ promise that his son lived; which is why he left without Jesus coming along with him. But now—having seen all that Jesus had done; and having matured in his faith—he now rested his faith upon Jesus’ person. Surely this was the Son of God; for only the Son of God could heal his son with a mere word a full day’s journey away! And not only did he himself believed, but so also did his whole household!
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John concludes this story by telling us, “This again is the second sign Jesus did when He had come out of Judea into Galilee.” The first was His miracle of turning water into wine—where He showed that He had power over natural processes. And now, He shows that He has authority even over life and death. As Jesus Himself said in John 11:25-26; “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die.”
But note carefully the lesson from this story. It’s a lesson that you and I need to take to heart. I’s not enough to simply believe in Jesus’ power—as important and as right as that is to do. And it’s not enough to simply believe in His promises—even though we most certainly should do so. We must come to the point at which we believe “upon” His very Person—that He is who He says that He is; and we must believe upon Him for ourselves in a personal, loving, and experiential way. His power toward us, and His promises to us, are what they are because He is who He is! As Paul put it;
Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith; that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death, if, by any means, I may attain to the resurrection from the dead (Colossians 3:8-10).
What a difference that is—to rest our whole being, in love, on the Person of Jesus; and to be completely absorbed in Him in a personal and relational way!
May God help us to grow increasingly into the sort of mature faith that pleases Him—one that doesn’t demand to know “why”, but that trusts Him without asking; one that doesn’t demand to see “how” He works, but trusts confidently that He does whether we see it or not; one that rests not just in His power, nor just in His promise, but most of all upon His very Person.